Why are people referring to Blockchain as the New internet?

• Toshendra Kumar Sharma
• December 05, 2018

It won’t be wrong to claim that Blockchain for the modern era is similar to the steam engine for the industrial revolution. It is not too long that we have seen this technology growing and flourishing. In a decade, Blockchain Technology has emerged as the key driver of growth. Initially, it some time to cryptocurrency transaction, but now Blockchain has overgrown its initial usage and found broader application in some fields.  Because of its breakneck pace of growth, many people are referring Blockchain as the new internet.

The current reputation of Blockchain is no different than what internet had when it first came into existence. It faced many oppositions, and people said that it wouldn’t last long. But the internet paved the new era of revolution. The impact was so huge that it has also influenced Blockchain. Today, the companies are working upon integrating Blockchain with IoT to make Blockchain even more impactful.

The Rise of the Internet Era

Well, similar to Blockchain when the internet came into existence then its primary objective was to copy data, sharing of information. However, later its expanded its zone of application and found usage in sharing of value and we came to know about the digitized platform for the exchange of money and trading. But, it required the presence of the third party to validate the payment which created an opportunity for many intermediaries like banks and financial institutions for the same.

These intermediaries solved the problem of double spending which challenged the acceptance of digital money exchange. This looked great and thus motivated new forms of business to flourish. People started adopting a new method of payment. But, the growth of the internet is not merely restricted to the transaction, it found usage in cross-border trade, easy information dissemination and merging the boundaries, thus creating a global platform for people doing business.

Over some time, the internet became the part of mainstream business operations. But at the same time, it also led to the rise of some bottlenecks like consumption of time for validation; the intermediaries took a cut from the transacted money as the processing fees. The biggest problem with the conventional internet system was that all the information was stored in a centralized server. Thus making the system easy to hack and steal the data. It led to the creation of an opportunity for a new system and technology to come up and resolve the issues.

Blockchain Surge,  Growth and the Future-

It was only in 2009 that we saw cryptocurrency and Blockchain came into existence. Similar to the internet, Blockchain was initially the underlying technology for cryptocurrency transaction. It only gained popularity after Bitcoin became a hot selling cake. Over a period of time, Blockchain overpowered Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency usages. Because of its multitude of applications and myriads of features, it became a key driver of growth. Cryptocurrency, ICO, cryptocurrency wallet, smart contracts, etc. are some of the popular application that has Blockchain at its core.

Some of the key features of Blockchain that differentiates it from the internet:

1. Transparency
2. Decentralization
3. Immutability
4. Easy tracking of information
5. Security of data
6. Peer-to-peer interaction
7. No third party interference

Although Blockchain is often compared with the internet in many of the cases, it proves better than it. Let’s understand how Blockchain is different and better?

One of the major problem that the current technology poses in front of us is an inference of intermediaries. The presence of the third party makes the current system slow, time–consuming and costly. With the help of Blockchain, the developers are aiming to resolve all the problems. Decentralization and Peer-to-Peer interaction are the key features of Blockchain. Immutability is another key feature of this technology. Because of this, any information data that once entered the distributed ledger technology cannot be altered, changed or deleted. Thus, making Blockchain a hack-free technology.

The Future Ahead-

Blockchain holds a great future in the times to come, more and bigger names venture in Blockchain TblockchIechnology and its application. We are expecting some big transformation in the industry. Companies like Wallmart, Amazon, IBM, Infosys, Microsoft, Apple, and other big names are planning to implement Blockchain as a part of their mainstream business operations. They are working to come up with its applications so that Blockchain soon becomes as revolutionary as the internet.